> Jordan, Foster and team deliver for regional WLMH rebuild funding /Pg 2 > Heritage demise hurts tourism: A Small Drop of Ink Pg 3 > CCWN gets $20K grant Pg 4 > Last chance for Hat Trick entries Pg 6 Thursday, January 21, 2021 Vol. 9 Issue 39
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DSBN claims it was initially unaware super school site contaminated By Mike Williscraft NewsNow The new Niagara West super school money pit will get deeper - and now has the attention of the Ministry of Education - before things get any better. As first reported in NewsNow Dec. 31, the site for the new Niagara West high school has incurred $17.4 million in site remediation costs. Kim Sweeney, District School Board of Niagara’s chief communications officer, confirmed the project has incurred well over $12 million in cost overruns after $5 million was budgeted for site preparation when the land acquisition was approved by the school board in February 2019. This is only one of the significant issues the project has at this early stage. According to an internal memo, another
$3.3 million in remaining work to prepare the site is still outstanding. As well, DSBN officials went ahead with the extra work not only without the Ministry of Education’s knowledge, but there was no approval to proceed (ATP ) with the work which resulted in the additional $12.4 million cost overrun. Despite the information in the report, Sweeney maintains the added cost is not in play. “The information about the $3.3 (million) is incorrect. There is no additional $3.3 million worth of work needed on the site before construction of West Niagara Secondary can begin,” noted Sweeney in email responses to questions. The school board had to request, after the fact, approval to use $12 million from its proceeds of disposition (POD)
account to cover the financial hit. It is still unclear if this has been approved at this time. Sweeney said the Ministry of Education has now approved the use of POD funds. “The additional $12 million did not come from the Ministry of Education but came from the DSBN’s Proceeds of Disposition. However, before we were able to use these funds, we had to get approval from the Ministry of Education,” Sweeney said. When NewsNow broke the first story three weeks ago, comments poured into the office, many asking how DSBN could not have known the soil problems with its chosen site were extensive. Among them was Bob Thompson, who even wrote to DSBN’s Grimsby Lincoln Trustee Elizabeth Klassen in August 2019 See SOIL, Page 2
An aerial view - from the Durham Road edge of the land - of the excavated new high school site on Hwy. 8 just west of Durham Road. The building toward the top left is the former Ridgeview Fruit Market on Hwy. 8. Mitchell Brown - Photo